SILICON VALLEY, Calif. -- Striking Silicon Valley janitors
announced today they will send a delegation of janitors who clean Cisco
Systems, Yahoo, Oracle and Stanford University to address the leadership
of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union convention
next week in Puerto Rico. There, Silicon Valley janitors will meet with
national leaders to talk about the disparity of wealth in Silicon Valley
and what they are doing about it.

Silicon Valley janitors will strategize with national union
leaders, elected officials and clergy and community groups in order to
generate a national strategy to help win justice in Silicon Valley. Many
of these leaders have fought and won victories similar to those the
Silicon Valley janitors are seeking; decent wages and improved access to
family healthcare. Silicon Valley janitors will meet with janitors
active in the national "Justice for Janitors" movement that,
over the last twenty years, has helped thousands of janitors in more
than 30 U.S. cities win better wages and healthcare.

In other cities across the country, including Houston and Miami in
2006, Boston in 2002, and Los Angeles and Chicago in 2000, janitors and
their allies have led strike-related activities including massive public
marches, picket lines outside major office buildings, prayer vigils,
hunger fasts, and other forms of non-violent protest.

Rafael Ramos cleans Stanford University, but because janitorial
services are subcontracted, janitors earn more than $2 less per hour
than the "living wage" standards that apply to direct
employees of the University. Rafael wants to be able to afford decent
housing for his wife and 9-month-old daughter, but right now they live
with Rafael's brother and his family in a two-bedroom apartment;
six people total. "I want to be able to save money, to put my
daughter in a good college so she can be something other than a janitor,
I want her to be a professional."

Maria Lopez cleans the offices of high-tech industry giant Cisco
Systems, but earns just $11.04 an hour, not nearly enough to care for
her four sons. Maria and her family must share housing with two other
families, just to be able to afford the rent. She feeds her family with
food donations from her church every week. "My salary is so low we
can't even think of saving money for the future. We worry just
about the day to day."

Eloisa Gonzales cleans offices at Oracle. With two young children
at home -- Alejandro, 5-years-old, and Selena, 18-months-old -- Eloisa
and her husband work very hard and make sacrifices, such as working
different shifts to save money. Though Eloisa only sleeps four hours a
night, she makes sure to encourage her children to work hard and go
after their dreams. "My son tells me he will work hard so that I
don't have to work the night shift anymore."

Hard-working Silicon Valley janitors earn $23,000 a year -- less
than one third of what the Center for Economic Policy reports it takes
to survive in California. Yet they live in the nation's most
affluent enclave. Santa Clara County has just surpassed Manhattan as the
area of the United States with the highest median income, $1,585/week.
It takes Bay Area janitors nearly a month to earn this much. Meanwhile,
state figures show that five Bay Area counties - Santa Clara, San Mateo,
Contra Costa, Alameda and Marin lead the state in median incomes.

More than 800 Silicon Valley, Bay Area janitors have been on strike
since May 20. Contract talks for more than 6,000 janitors collapsed on
Thursday, May 15 when the Bay Area's largest cleaning companies
refused, after months of negotiations, to propose even modest pay and
benefit improvements to janitors. In addition, the cleaning companies
are facing an investigation by the federal labor board over charges they
illegally attempted to silence and intimidated janitors who have been
speaking out for justice.

For more info about SEIU Local 1877 Justice for Janitors visit:
www.seiu-usww.org.

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